After a while I was allowed to get up and take walks around Beulahland, a beautiful place and one of the few truly civilised places in any world. And then I was transferred back to Boondock... and Woodrow and Father and Dagmar came to call on me.
They all leaned over my bed and kissed me and I cried a while and then we talked.
It was a big wedding. There was Mycroft and Athene and Minerva of course, and my grandson Richard Colin, who had at last forgiven Lazarus (for being his father). My darling Gwen Hazel had no reason to remain on leave from the family when Richard Colin was willing and eager to join. My daughters Laz and Lor had decided to cancel the indentures of their husbands, Cas and Pol, in recognition of their heroism in diving back into the fire for us four laggards - and to allow them to marry into the family. And there was Xia and Dagmar and Choy-Mu and Father and Gretchen - and the rest of us who had been Longs for years - some more years, some less. Our new family members each had had one reason or another to hesitate, but Galahad and Tamara made it clear: we take just one vow, to safeguard the welfare and happiness of all our children.
That's our total marriage contract. The rest is just poetic ritual.
Whom you sleep with, whom you make love with, is your private business. Ishtar, as our family geneticist, controls pregnancy and progeny to whatever extent control is needed for the welfare of our children.
So we all joined hands in the presence of our children (of course Pixel was there!) and we pledged ourselves to love and cherish our children - those around us, those still to come, worlds without end.
And we all lived happily ever after.
APPENDIX
People in this Memoir
Maureen Johnson Smith Long, 4 July 1882.
Pixel, a cat
Maureen's Ancestors, Aunts, Uncles, In-Laws
Ira Johnson, MD, father 2 August 1852
Adele Pfeiffer Johnson, mother
John Adams Smith, father-in-law
Ethel Graves Smith, mother-in-law
(Paternal Ancestors)
Asa Edward Johnson, grandfather 1813-1918
Rose Altheda McFee Johnson, grandmother 1814-1918
George Edward Johnson, great-grandfather 1795-1899
Amanda Lou Fredericks Johnson, great-grandmother 1798-1899
Terence McFee, great-grandfather 1796-1900
Rose Wilhelmina Brandt McFee, great-grandmother 1798-1899
(Maternal Ancestors)
Richard Pfeiffer, grandfather 1830-1932
Kristina Larsen Pfeiffer, grandmother 1834-1940
Robert Pfeiffer, great-grandfather 1809-1909
Heidi Schmidt Pfeiffer, great-grandmother 1810-1913
Ole Larsen, great-grandfather 1805-1907
Anna Kristina Hansen, great-grandmother 1810-1912
Ira Johnson's Siblings
Samantha Jane Johnson 1831-1915
James Ewing Johnson 1833-1884
(married Carole Pelletier 1849-1954)
Walter Raleigh Johnson 1838-1862
Alice Irene Johnson 1840-?
Edward McFee Johnson 1844-1884
Aurora Johnson 1850-?
Maureen's Siblings
Edward Ray Johnson 1876
Audrey Adele Johnson 1878
(married Jerome Bixby 1896)
Agnes Johnson 1880
Thomas Jefferson Johnson 1881
Benjamin Franklin Johnson 1884
Elizabeth Ann Johnson 1892
Lucille Johnson 1894
George Washington Johnson 1897
Nelson Johnson, cousin 1884
(son of James Ewing Johnson and Carole Pelletier)
Maureen's Descendants and their Spouses
Nancy Smith 1 Dec 1899
(married Jonathan Sperling Weatheral)
Carol Smith 1 January 1902
(married Roderick Schmidt Jenkins)
Brian Smith Junior 2 March 1905
George Edward Smith 4 February 1907
Marie Agnes Smith 5 April 1909
Woodrow Wilson Smith/Lazarus Long, et al. 11 Nov 1912
(first wife: Heather Hedrick)
Richard Smith 1914-1945
(married Marian Hardy)
Ethel Smith 1916
Theodore Ira Smith 4 March 1919
Margaret Smith 1922
Arthur Roy Smith 1924
Alice Virginia Smith 1927
(married Ralph Sperling)
Doris Jean 1930
(married Roderick Briggs)
Patrick Henry Smith 1932
(by Justin Weatheral)
Susan Smith 1934
(married Henry Schultz)
Donald Smith 1936
Priscilla Smith 1938
Lapis Lazuli Long, cloned from Lazarus, AD 4273
Lorelei Lee Long, cloned from Lazarus AD 4273
Richard Colin Campbell Ames, grandson, AD 2133
(son of Lazarus Long and Wendy Campbell)
Roberta Weatheral Barstow, granddaughter 25 Dec 1918
Anne Barstow Hardy, great-granddaughter 2 Nov 1935
Nancy Jane Hardy, great-great-granddaughter 22 June 1952
Maureen's Spouses, Co-Spouses, Lovers, Friends
Charles Perkins 1881-1898
Brian Smith, husband 1877-1996
Justin Weatheral 1875
Eleanor Sperling Weatheral 1877
James Rumsey, Senior, MD
James Rumsey, Junior, MD
Velma Briggs Rumsey (Mrs James Rumsey, Junior)
Mammy Della
Elizabeth Louise Barstow Johnson (Mrs Nelson Johnson)
Hal and Jane Andrews
George Strong Arthur Simmons 1917
Jubal Harshaw 1907
Tamara Ishrar
Galahad
Hilda Mae Corners Burroughs Long
Deety Burroughs Carter Long
Jacob Burroughs Long
Zebadiah John Carter Long
Cats
Pixel
Random Numbers
Chargé d'Affaires
Captain Blood
Princess Polly Ponderosa Penelope Peachfuzz
More People
Judge Hardacres, a corpse
Eric Ridpath, MD
Zenobia Ridpath, a gracious hostess
Adolf Weisskopf, MD
Dagmar Dobbs, RN
Major Gretchen Henderson, Time Corps soldier
Jesse F. Bone DVM - saved a kitten
Ira Howard - funded the Howard Foundation 1825-73
Jackson Igo and sons
Judge Orville Sperling, Foundation Chairman 1840
Reverend Clarence Timberly
Mrs Ohlschlager, neighbour and friend
The Reverend Dr Ezekiel ‘Biblethumper'
Mr Fones, employer of Brian Smith
Mr Renwick, driver, Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Co.
The Reverend Dr David C. Draper
Mr Smaterine, a banker
Deacon Houlihan, a bank president
Mr Schontz, a butcher
Anita Boles, a stenographer
Arthur J. Chapman, Howard Foundation Trustee
Dr Bannister, Dean of Academics, KCU
Alvin Barkley, President USA 1945-53 rime line two
George S. Patton, Junior, President USA 1953-61 time line two
Rufus Briggs, Foundation trustee, an oaf
D. D. Harriman
Col. Frisby, Argus Security Patrol
Rick, Argus Security Patrol
Mrs Barnes, matron, Argus Security Patrol
Mr Wren, Public Health Officer
Mrs Lantry, Public-Health Officer
Daniel Dixon, financier
Dr Macintosh, Chancellor University of New Mexico
Helen Beck, dancer/scholar
Dora Smith (Mrs W. W. Smith) New Beginnings colony
Helen Smith, daughter of Mr and Mrs W. W. Smith, New Beginnings
Freddie, a gunsel
Patty Paiwonski, a priestess with snakes
Wyoming Long, daughter of Gwen Hazel and Lazarus
Castor and Pollux, grandsons of Gwen Hazel
The Reverend Dr Hendrik Hudson Schultz, Time corps agent
Gillian Boardman Long, RN, quondam high priestess Church of All Worlds
Computer People
Mycroft Holmes IV, chairman Lunar revolution, time line three
Minerva Long, former executive computer Tellus Secundus, now flesh and blood Athene, executive computer Tellus Tertius, Minerva's twin
Shiva - Athene/Mycroft interfaced, led by Minerva